PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING
Course Description:
Language learning starts at birth. However, we wonder how children could
possibly acquire language as such a complex skill with very little experience of life.
Rice, Bruehler, and Specker (2004) stated that experiments have clearly identified an
ability to distinguish syntactical shades of difference in very young infants, although they
are still at the pre- linguistic stage.
For example, children of three are able to handle very complicated syntactical
sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces. So how do children
learn to speak? This course will examine principles, factors, and contexts of language
acquisition and learning based on theories and research findings.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this course student should be able to:
1. To Identify various theories in first and second language acquisition.
2. To describe the stages of second language acquisition.
3. To differentiate between characteristics of language acquisition and
language/learning.
4. To understand the different approaches and functions of language acquisitions
and learning.
Lesson I: Nature of Language and Learning
Learning Objectives:
1. To define language and learning.
2. To differentiate language learning from language acquisition.
3. To understand the nature of learning.
What is language?
Language is the process of exchanging of messages and creating meaning.
Language Is part of culture.
Language is also intertwined with human biology.
Characteristics of Human Language:
1. Language is a social tool.
2. Language must be learned.
3. The relationship between the sound of a language and their meaning is arbitrary
and dual.
4. Language has rules.
5. Language allows human to be creative.
Language acquisition vs Language Learning
Acquisition Learning
Similar to child's first language acquisition Formal knowledge of language
“Picking up” a language “Knowing about” a language
Subconscious Conscious
Implicit knowledge Explicit knowledge
Formal teaching does not help Formal teaching helps
Language is about communication and identity (Baker, 2000:26). We need
language to transfer and share information and to build relationships with the others.
Bowen (1998) said that language is called the symbolization of thought. It is a learned
code, or system of rules that enables us to communicate ideas and express wants and
needs. Bowen further added that language falls into two main divisions, receptive
language (understanding what is said, written or signed) and expressive language
(related to speaking, writing or signing). Thus, language is simply defined by Richards
et. al. (1992, p.196) as the system of human communication which consists of the
structures arrangements of sounds (or their written presentation) into larger units, e.g.
morphemes, words, sentences, utterances.
The process of perceiving language in an individual is by the processes of
learning and acquisition. Learning is a conscious process, knowing the rules, being
aware of them, and being able to talk about them. Whereas acquisition is a process by
which children unconsciously acquire their native/first language(s). In language
acquisition, the focus is on communication or reception of a message as opposed to
syntax and grammar as is the case in language learning (Rice, Bruehler & Specker,
2004). Ebert & Hawk (2003).
It is believed that the usual outcome of language acquisition is fluency, which is
by no means guaranteed in language learning.
Nature of Learning
1. Learning is a process.
2. Learning involves experiences and training of an individual which helps to
change his behavior.
3. Learning prepare the individual to adjust and adopt in the situation.
4. All learning is purposeful and goal oriented.
5. Learning is universal and continuous.
6. It is a continuous process and never-ending process that goes from womb to
tomb.
7 Principles in Learning (Dumont et. al. 2010)
1. Learners at the center.
2. The social nature of learning.
3. Emotions are integral to learning.
4. Recognizing individual difference.
5. Stretching all students.
6. Assessment for learning.
7. Building horizontal connections.
First Language Acquisition vs Second Language Acquisition
The expected cry of a newborn baby is the first sign of human communication.
Language acquisition process can be seen as a running parallel throughout a child's life
every day. She/he learns to communicate through natural interactions with his/her
environment. The process begins in the early live of a human and requires a healthy
start, sufficient opportunities, and exposure to a care giving environment that allows the
child's innate predisposition to learn to communicate to functions (Rossetti, 2001, p. 45).
More than half of the world's population today uses more than one language while being
connected to fundamental human activities. Bilingualism symbolizes the essential
humanity of building bridges between people of different color, creed, culture and
language (Baker,2000, p.5).
Baker (2000) stated children are born ready to become bilinguals and
multilingual. They are like "sponges", as they sponges-up all languages provided by
their environment and chances to interact with people of different language
backgrounds. They would pick-up any language without endangering their own first
language development. Lambert (1962) said that bilingual activity does not retard
intelligence (in Garcia, 1986).
To enhance children's bilingualism, a lot of stimulations to language are
essential. In some situations, producing bilingual children is easy and natural, in others
it can be a struggle. A lot of factors affect the process, such as encouragements from
both of the parents at home and the community. In bilingual and multilingual community,
there is a great need to master two or more languages for operating daily activities
successfully. Therefore, this situation strongly supports the children's bilingualism.
Language engineering or shaping is important in families that judge bilingualism as a
challenge. This means that it is important that children's attitudes towards their
languages are motivated and encouraged continuously. A variety of pleasurable
environment for language growth is very important.
THEORIES OF LANGUAGE/WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
1. For the structuralist, language is a system of speech sounds, arbitrarily
assigned to the objects, states, and concepts to which they refer, used for
human communication.
Language is a system. Language is a system of forms – elements or items
combined in certain ways to create sentences. Each element of the
language has a value only in terms of the rules under which it operates
and in relation to other elements. Language is a system of structurally
related elements of “building blocks” for the encoding of meaning, the
elements being phonemes (sounds) morphemes (words), tagmemes
(phrases and sentences/clauses). Language learning it is assumed entails
mastering the elements or building blocks of the language and learning
the rules by which these elements are combined, from phoneme to
morpheme to word to phrase to sentence.
Language is speech. The primary medium of language is speech. Speech
is language; the written record is but a secondary representation of
language. Language is “primarily what is spoken only secondarily what is
written.” Therefore, it is assumed that speech has a priority in language
teaching.
Language is arbitrary. The relationship between the words and the “things”
they denote is merely conventional, i.e. native speakers of English, in
some sense agreed to use the sound like cat, is/kaet/ in English because
native speakers of English ‘want’ it to be.
Language is for communication.
2. For the transformationalist, language is a system of knowledge made
manifest in linguistic form but innate and, in its most abstract form, universal.
Language is a system which relates meanings to substance.
Language is a mental phenomenon.
Language is innate. All normal children acquire their mother tongue in an
amazingly short time. The innateness of language suggests a genetically
imparted ability for language learning.
Language is universal. It is universal in the sense that all normal children
the world over acquire a mother tongue but it is also universal in the sense
that, at a highly abstract level, all language must share key characteristics
which permit us to label them as human languages.
Language is creative. Language enables us to produce and understand
sentences we have not heard nor used before.
3. For the functionalist, language is a dynamic, open system by means of
which members of community exchange information. It is a vehicle for the
expression of functional meaning. A functionalist view of language raises the
questions: ‘how does language work?’, ‘what is language for?’ this theories
emphasizes the semantic and communicative dimensions rather than merely
the grammatical characteristics of language, and leads to a specification and
organization of language teaching content by categories of meaning and
functions rather than by elements of structure and grammar.
4. For the interactionist, language is a vehicle for the realization of
interpersonal relations and for the performance of social transactions between
individuals. It is a tool for the creation and maintenance of social relations.
Language teaching content, according to this view, may be specified and
organized by patterns of exchange and interaction.
THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (Overview)
Over the last fifty years, several theories have been put forward to explain the
process by which children learn to understand and speak a language. They can be
summarised as follows:
Individual
Theory Central Idea
with theory
Children imitate adults. Their correct utterances are
Behaviorist reinforced when they get what they want or are Skinner
praised.
A child's brain contains special language-learning
Innateness Chomsky
mechanisms at birth.
Language is just one aspect of a child's overall
Cognitive Piaget
intellectual development.
This theory emphasises the interaction between
Interaction Bruner
children and their care-givers.
We shall consider each of these in turn. Before we do, it is important to
recognize that they should not be seen simply as conflicting theories, replacing each
other in a sequence.
